


More To Me

by towan_white



Category: The Mighty Boosh (TV)
Genre: M/M, Romance, Sad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-27
Packaged: 2019-01-21 22:59:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12467880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/towan_white/pseuds/towan_white
Summary: After a row with Howard, Vince decides that it would be best to leave the flat. As Howard realises that Vince means more to him than either of them knew, he sets out to find him before he loses him forever.





	1. Chapter 1

"Hey, Howard! Check this out!"

Howard sighed, turning only slightly towards the closed bedroom door behind him.

"Not right now, Vince," he called back to his flatmate. Gently, he flicked through the pages of his treasured autograph book, tracing over the mess of pen lines with his fingertips. For years he had made it his personal goal to meet every person who had ever inspired him, dating back to even before he and Vince had started working at the Zooniverse. Actors, directors, musicians, and so many other influential people he had met had all made their mark in that little, leather-bound book. Howard smiled and closed his eyes, recalling what it had been like conversing with the people he admired. Things were so much simpler back then, so much less chaotic...

"Howard!"

The door burst open with a slam to the wall as Vince stumbled into the bedroom, a lighter in one hand and his sixth can of hairspray that week in the other.

"Howard, look! I can make a flamethrower!" He flicked on the lighter and sprayed the hairspray towards it, shooting forth a torrent of fire. Howard almost jumped out of his desk chair.

"You put that away right now! You'll set the whole flat on fire!"

"Aw, come on Howard! Don't you think it looks cool? It'll be great for our next show!" Vince sprayed short bursts of flames in different directions around him as he spoke.

"Not unless you plan on burning down the Velvet Onion as well! Put it away!"

In spite of his friend's several warnings, Vince continued to play around with his new toy, even pretending to shoot Howard a few times just to make him flinch.

"You don't need all these old books, do you Howard?" Vince pointed his flamethrower towards the bookshelf, grinning as he watched Howard following him around the room, his expression becoming more horrified by the second.

"Vince! I'm not joking, stop that right now!" Howard's words once again fell upon deaf ears as Vince simply laughed, stepping briskly over to the desk where Howard had been sitting.

"Do you really not trust me?"

"No! Of course not! What have you ever done to convince me that you and a makeshift flamethrower are a safe combination?!"

"But look! I can control how far the flames go!"

Before Howard could protest, Vince had already turned himself towards the desk. Pointing his hairspray at the open autograph book, he fired a stream of flames at it. Howard shrieked as he watched the fire shoot out mere centimetres from the yellowing paper. After about 5 seconds Vince turned back around to face him.

"See? I told you you could trust me," he grinned, though he noticed that Howard's expression of panic had not given way to one of relief, and that he had his hands atop his head looking as if he were about to pull out his own hair under the immense stress.

" _Vince!_ " Howard's voice was so strained it almost broke. Vince turned around to find that a corner of the book  _had_  in fact caught fire in spite of his caution, and the flames were spreading fast. He immediately dropped the lighter and can and rushed to try to put it out. He tried smothering it with his arms, but simply ended up burning himself. In a panic, he threw the book to the floor and attempted to stamp out the flames, but they did not disappear and instead only threatened to set Vince on fire as well. His eyes shot around the room at light speed, looking for anything he could use to put out the fire until eventually coming to rest on a glass of water on the desk. Almost without thinking, he grabbed it and tipped it over the flaming book, which hissed as the flames finally died out. Breathing heavily, he stooped down to pick up what used to be one of Howard's most prized possessions, but was now nothing more than a smoking heap of wet, black papery layers with a leather cover.

"H-Howard," Vince stuttered quietly, dreading to look his friend in the eyes, "I'm so sorry."

Howard did not look distraught. He wasn't crying like he did when Vince broke his Voodoo Scat record. He didn't look distressed anymore. He didn't even look disappointed. The look in his eyes as he lifted his head to look at Vince was one of rage.

"No. You're not sorry. It doesn't matter how many times I tell you to stop, you always fuck something up."

Vince's stomach churned at the harshness of Howard's words and tone. He had never spoken to him like this before and he could tell that something had finally snapped inside him.

"That's all you're good for," Howard continued, "fucking things up." Vince's jaw dropped a little.

"Howard..." A pathetic-sounding whimper of a response was all he could muster.

"No! 'Howard' nothing! I gave you more than enough warnings and you still managed to destroy almost everything I hold dear! Not just this time, but every time you've fucked something up for me in the past!"

Howard's voice grew gradually louder until he was practically screaming at Vince. Vince trembled in the corner of the room, terrified of the thunderous voice attacking him. He wasn't sure, even if he had the courage to argue, if there was anything he could say in his defence. However hate-tinged Howard's accusations were, they were true. His mind raced through so many occasions in which his best friend had suffered as a direct result of his actions. When he had gotten Howard fired from the Nabootique by pinning blame on him for leaving the rubbish in the back. When he was proclaimed as 'the chosen one' on the planet Xooberon and had done nothing to prevent Howard from being humiliated. Almost as soon as he came to his conclusion, Howard seemed to take the words right out of his mouth.

"Sometimes I think my life would've been better without you in it!"

Vince's heart shattered under the weight of those words. He felt a lump forming in his throat as he tried to steady his shaking legs lest he collapse right there and then. He tried to say something, anything in response but his lower lip was quivering too much for him to form a single word. He watched as Howard stormed out, slamming the door shut behind him and leaving him alone in the silence. Tears began to stream from his eyes as he slumped down to the floor, leaving black eyeliner tear stains down his cheeks. He tried to suppress his sobs in fear of being heard, but as he heard several more doors slamming, each one fainter than the last, he assumed that Howard had left the flat. He curled up with his head on his knees as he lost control of his breathing, more and more tears falling down his face like inky waterfalls.  _Howard's right,_ he thought, wiping his eyes with his hand, _all I do is mess everything up..._

After ten minutes, Vince dried the last of his tears and wandered slowly over to his bed. Leaning down and reaching underneath, he pulled out a large suitcase. He smiled a little as he remembered the last time it was used; he and Howard had taken a holiday in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Howard always did love the outdoors. Vince pondered on the thought that perhaps the night air would help him calm down after all of that shouting. He glanced over at the decimated autograph book before quickly shaking his head, as if to shake the thought of what had just transpired out of his mind. He couldn't face him again after that. Even if he could think of what to say this time, it would be too painful. Vince knew what he needed to do. He clicked open the suitcase.

Around half an hour later, Vince quietly crept downstairs to the front door of the flat and locked it behind him. Placing his suitcase on the floor, he rolled it along behind him as he walked down the street. And walked. And walked, until the Nabootique, the only home he had, was completely out of sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I hope you enjoyed this first chapter. I plan to upload more very soon but I may come back to make minor edits to this chapter in the future. Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

It was almost half past ten in the morning before Howard returned to the flat. He had been out all night drinking with Lester in an attempt to forget his altercation with Vince earlier in the evening. He had downed every drop of alcohol he could get his hands on, but he still couldn’t shake the guilt slowly growing inside him. He knew that the yelling and harsh words were out of character for him, and he still couldn’t understand why he had reacted that way at all. Vince had almost certainly done worse things in the past, and even if he hadn’t the book wasn’t worth screaming at him over. He hadn’t slept at all that night, as every time he closed his eyes he vividly recalled the fear in Vince’s eyes, the tremors in his hands and legs, and how he had appeared to be on the verge of tears before Howard had taken his leave. His guilty conscience eventually drove him back home, and nursing his aching head he slowly made his way up the stairs to make his apologies.

As he wandered into the kitchen he found Naboo and Bollo, who had been out at a disco the night before and were therefore absent during the argument.

“Where the ‘ell ‘ave you been?” Naboo turned to confront Howard as he entered, leaving the tea he was making on the counter beside him.

“I was out,” Howard said quickly, wanting to apologise for last night as soon as possible. “Where’s Vince?”

“Dunno, haven’t seen him since we got back.” Naboo went back to stirring his tea. Howard put his head in his hands for a moment. It wasn’t like Vince not to leave their bedroom to say good morning. In fact, more often than not he was the first in the flat to get up at all. _I must have upset him more than I thought,_ Howard considered as he made a beeline for the bedroom.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Bollo muttered as he passed. Howard took no notice and knocked the bedroom door.

“Vince…?” No answer. He slowly pushed the door open and tiptoed inside. The room was empty. Vince’s bed was neatly made and undisturbed. The charred book lay open on the floor next to the desk. Howard’s stomach dropped as he slowly wandered into the room, his legs seemingly on autopilot. He came to a halt in the middle and looked around. Neither Naboo nor Bollo had heard from Vince since they returned the night before, and he clearly hadn’t slept in the flat as he never bothered to make his bed in the morning. Howard reluctantly stepped towards Vince’s wardrobe. He reached out for the handle and, inhaling deeply, he pulled open the door.

The wardrobe was almost completely empty. The racks that once held a vast array of colourful, often shiny items of clothing now only held bare coat hangers, and the floor of the wardrobe that was previously crammed full of boots and shoes of many different styles and materials had only the dusty outlines of their soles to show for it. Howard began to shake, realising that his fears had been confirmed. He was about to close the wardrobe once again when he caught a glimpse of something right in the back corner. He reached in and pulled out the only item of clothing that Vince had left behind – his customised Zooniverse jacket.

Howard’s legs almost gave way under him as he clutched the green jacket to his chest.

“Vince…” he murmured, almost letting a tear slip from his eye.

“Howard, do you and Vince want a cuppa’ tea?” Naboo called from the other room.

“He’s gone…” Howard attempted to respond but could only manage to speak at a regular volume. Moments later, Naboo poked his head around the bedroom door.

“Oi! Are you deaf, ya batty crease?”

“He’s gone, Naboo,” Howard repeated, still staring straight ahead of him with the jacket pressed against his chest.

“What do you mean, 'he’s gone'?”

“He left. He’s run off. He took all of his clothes with him.”

Naboo rushed forward to inspect the wardrobe that Howard was staring into.

“Why would he just leave?” Naboo demanded, expressing both frustration towards Howard and concern for the missing Vince.

“I… I shouted at him last night,” Howard stuttered, turning slowly to face Naboo with his eyes fixed to the ground. “He damaged something of mine and I went off at him.” ‘Damaged’ was an understatement, but Howard decided that he’d rather not get into the specifics of what had happened lest he have to relive it in his mind once more.

“This isn’t good. You need to find him,” Naboo said, stepping back from Howard with even more worry in his eyes. Normally, Howard would question why he was always the one who had to fix everything, but this time he simply nodded in agreement. He knew he had to fix his mistake.

“Do you have any idea where he could’ve gone?” asked Naboo.

“No,” Howard replied, finally hanging Vince’s jacket back in the wardrobe and closing the doors, “but I will find him, mark my words.”

“You better.” Naboo stepped back out of the bedroom door, leaving Howard alone again. He thought about what he had just said. _‘I will find him, mark my words.’_ A strong sense of determination and courage had swept over him quite suddenly, and the more he thought about it the more he realised just how much he had meant it. He thought of all of the great times he had had with Vince, of all the memories they had made together. He thought of their brief moment on the roof at his birthday party, and how he had tried to backtrack on his confessions after finding out that Vince really wasn’t all that into him. He still cared very deeply for Vince, and although he had resigned himself to being Vince’s best friend and nothing more, there was still a deep need within him to prove how strong his love really was.

Finally, he thought of a life without Vince. The life he had said that he longed for the night before. A life devoid of colour, of sunshine, and of love. _No,_ he thought, _I can’t let myself lose him._ Howard grabbed his satchel and headed for the door. He swore to himself, if it was the last thing he ever did, he was going to bring Vince home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thanks for reading! The next chapter may take a while to be published as I'm back at college on Monday, but I will still try to write as much as I can in my free time! xx


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